The Android developer just published an updated landing page for Google Messages, showing off key features ranging from customization, privacy and security, and, of course, AI.
On this landing page, there are different sections for each feature set, including one for RCS. As spotted by 9to5Google, if you expand this list of RCS features and scroll to the bottom, you see a section on “Coming soon on iOS: Better messaging for all.” That’s no surprise: We’ve known Apple was adopting RCS since November. However, it’s the next line that brings the news: “Apple has announced it will be adopting RCS in the fall of 2024.”
Of course, this does not say a lot as it is “in the fall” which is anywhere over a couple of months, and Google has tried to embarrass Apple into making moves before. I suppose, though, there is the looming court case against Apple which is anyway keeping pressure on Apple. If it were not for the US court case, I would have guessed Apple may have pulled out after the EU had ruled Apple was not a dominant player in the market (although the EU case was looking more at interoperability with WhatsApp and others in Apple Messages).
Of course, with Apple actually including RCS now, they can probably argue that there is interoperability via RCS between their platform and Android too. It must be remembered that in many countries, like mine, SMS’s are paid for so are very expensive to use for any form of chatting, and the costs go up exponentially when you text an international number.
I personally have quite a few issues with interoperability with Apple:
- I still have AirTags from when I had an iPhone and I daily get the audio beeps warning me the AirTags are not connected (I use an Android phone and alternate between an iPad and an Android tablet)
- I can’t wait to sell my AirTags and get the new one’s Google was working on that will interoperate with Apple, but supposedly Apple has been delaying building in that support into their devices (which Google already built into Android for AirTags in 2023)
- Because I was on Apple Messages and my iPad still sometimes connects, I find a message on my iPad that arrived a week ago which I had not seen (I had Beeper which was solving this problem)
Apple is not at all dominant outside the USA, but it makes interacting with Apple users quite a pain, as Apple has gone out of their way to try to keep their users inside the walled garden.
See https://lifehacker.com/tech/google-just-revealed-when-apple-will-officially-adopt-rcs
#technology #RCS #Apple #interoperability
Yeah, I am not using it until it comes to google free android. How is it “better messaging for all” when you are forced to use google’s proprietary implementation on android?!
Just keep using signal.
The “better” though is over plain text SMS message which we have to pay per message. I use Signal but less than a handful of friends use it so it does not help me much on that front.
Where I am the situation is flipped: I get infinite SMS, but have to pay for data i.e pay per message on RCS.
modern features like E2EE
This is false. E2EE is not part of the spec. It’s just a feature of Google’s implementation, which Apple will absolutely not be using.
This is so important.
I read about Apple looking to bring the spec up to par, but I suspect it has a higher chance of being a nothing-burger since carriers haven’t bothered with RCS and Google’s implementation is as controlled/proprietary as iMessage so it will be interesting to see how things go forward.
Apple and others have complained that Google was gatekeeping the RCS encryption plugin, and that it needed to be an open standard. Both Apple and Google are now contributing to and open encryption standard now, which should benefit lots of messaging clients.
That said, the PR folks said late last year that we should not expect encrypted RCS on iOS with release 1 of iOS RCS.
Google’s website is not incorrect. It’s just missing nuance and dates.
So when we use Google messages for RCS it’s E2EE?
Only with other Google messages users (on Carriers who use Google rcs)
oh boy
Watch them be pee-yellow bubbles or something, but still not blue, lol.
Honestly they shouldn’t be blue. I don’t say this out of some kind of elitism, I just mean that the different colored chat bubbles are what currently tell you whether you’re using Apple’s E2EE chat function or plain text SMS. RCS would also support encryption, but currently Apple allows you to opt into tighter security controls that hide your iMessage encryption keys even from Apple when your messages are backed up. Your RCS chat partner opens half of the encrypted end to Google’s security policies which you won’t have any control over. So knowing that I’m using RCS when messaging somebody is something I’d want to be aware of.
RCS will replace SMS/MMS, not iMessage. Whether it’s encrypted or not, Apple will still regard it as being a tier beneath their own solution. So green is the new green.
I don’t mind the different color. Since SMS or RCS can cost money depending on where you are and which contract you have it’s an important information for me if I’m not using iMessage.
A better surveillance tool for Google and Apple, no thanks. Signal for the win!
RCS will be E2EE when the encryption standard rolls out. And this is going to replace vanilla SMS, which is insecure AF. So, IMHO, I don’t see how this hurts.
So you are saying some closed source, not guaranteed e2ee is more valuable than signal? I’m laughing at you. Having no encryption its the same as having closed source fake e2ee
I’m laughing at you
This isn’t Twitter or Reddit. Can we treat each other better?
Apple is not at all dominant outside the USA
Depends on the country. iOS has over 50% of the mobile market in more nations than you might realize. This is especially true for English speaking countries.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/iphone-market-share-by-country
North Korea going over 80% on ios share was something unexpected.
Probably at least 5 iPhones.
Lmao finally the shit phones are improving, few years late to the party as usual 😂 We all use apps to chat now!
RCS is a minor improvement, but it’s still shit. Matrix needs to be the standard.
They’re not really equivalent.
RCS replaces SMS, and thus for users will effectively function like a peer to peer message delivery system based on phone numbers.
Matrix is an account-based client-server system with federation capabilities, meaning it has more in common with email.
The benefit of SMS/RCS is that the ability to use them simply comes with your phone number/SIM.
While account-based chat system like Matrix have obvious benefits provided by the fact that they work through an account on a server, an open standard like SMS used to be, but with modern capabilities, is needed.
iMessage, being a closed-off obfuscated mess sitting between those two approaches, needs to go.
Matrix still needs to be the standard.
For what?
We use different things for different things.
Matrix cannot do peer-to-peer message delivery, so it literally can’t be the standard.
And I for one don’t want matrix to become the new email, either. Can you imagine email spam, but in your DMs?
I’ll happily let it replace iMessage, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp and Telegram, tho.
They’re working on peer to peer and if you need that use it. Matrix works fine for 95% of people
Yes, clients do need settings to mute invites. And do you not get SMS spam all the time?
Yes Discord can suck my massive cock. I agree.
Ok, but it’s still never going to become the go-to mobile client-carrier inter-carrier protocol, which is what SMS and RCS are.
I’ve abandoned SMS already, and won’t be benefitting from apple adopting RCS, as I live in a country that has moved on from carrier-provided messaging.
But a lot of the world hasn’t, and hence RCS is necessary.
I look forward to the day when everyone has a matrix address, the same as email, but I’m in no hurry to get there so long as the tools to manage what incoming communication actually gets through to you, do not exist.
